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South Fork, Colorado

Kara jumped on her phone when it rang, even though it was after midnight. It was Jim.

“Hey, kiddo, how you doing?”

“Eh,” she said. She wasn’t going to lie to Jim, and he wouldn’t believe her if she did.

“I have something. Not sure where it fits, but it could help. We just finished the autopsy of Thalia’s body. A couple of things. First, she was tortured, poor woman. Broken ribs, fingers, badly beaten, cracked skull. Some bruises were more than a week old. Her prints and blood were in Jesse Morrison’s house. Thalia’s blood was found at the threshold of the main entrance, plus some trace hair. I looked back at photos and my notes from the crime scene, and my guess—no way to confirm, but the evidence points here—is that she was grabbed at Morrison’s house sometime after his murder.”

“They waited for her. Expected her. You saw Ryder’s report on the message board?”

“Yes, I factored that in. So my guess is that whoever killed Thalia waited for her to come. Based on the pattern of bruises, what’s healed, bones that started knitting together—she was first attacked approximately three weeks ago. Morrison was likely a week dead when she arrived, and they were waiting for her.”

“The sheriff’s department has taken what we learned from the message board and is talking to business owners in the area, showing them the sketches Riley created. We know at least one person stayed in the old cabin, but we need an ID.”

“Good,” Jim said.

“I’ll ask the sheriff’s department to expand the search into the mountains if you think we might find something—though it’s been a month, so any evidence is likely buried in feet of snow.”

“Agreed. I don’t know that it would be a good use of our time and resources right now.”

“Is that it?”

“No,” Jim said. “I would have emailed you that. Sorry. I’m distracted. First, Sloane will be leaving for South Fork before dawn. I’m staying here to finish processing evidence, and Andrew Gardner has made a turn for the better. He came out of the coma, but they have him under sedation. They identified the substance he was poisoned with and there are long-term complications, but now that he’s responding to treatment, he should be out of the woods. I’ll talk to him as soon as possible.”

“The sooner the better. Riley said he came to Havenwood as a teenager. He might know how to get there, at least give us more than we have now.”

“I know, kid. I’ve read all the reports,” Jim said. “Second, more about the autopsy. There are several things, and the coroner won’t have his report until Monday. Thalia was kept in a cold, dank room, likely a basement with dirt floors, for an extended period of time.

“But here’s the main point. She had been dead for two to six hours prior to the body dump. I could be more precise, but the cold slowed decomp, and I believe she had a lower core body temperature when she was killed, so I’m comfortable saying two to four hours. We’re running more tests and could narrow it further. You already knew she wasn’t killed at the lodge. She was wrapped in burlap for transport. My guess is two bags, one over her head, the other over her legs, and tied in the middle. The burlap had previously been used to store or transport marijuana. You find the burlap, I’ll match it.”

How that would help them find Matt, she didn’t know, but at least they could tie these bastards to another murder. “Okay,” she said, not knowing what else to say.

“I’ve also extracted blood and hair samples from the body that don’t belong to the victim. I’m sending them to Quantico for DNA analysis. That’s more important once we have a suspect. I can tell you that the hair samples are from three different people.”

“That’s really good. Lock them up, throw away the key.” When we find them , she thought.

“And one more thing. During her last weeks of life, she breathed in wood smoke regularly, possibly from a potbellied stove like we saw in Morrison’s house. The wood was infected by a fungus, specifically a type of mushroom, and we were able to narrow it down. It wouldn’t be dangerous to healthy people, but because she breathed it in through the woodsmoke over a long period of time—weeks—and she was weak from being restrained, she became sick and developed a blood infection. It would have killed her without immediate treatment. But we know exactly where this fungus has been found. It’s a very specific region of southwest Colorado. Quantico is already running it with the satellite search. We’ll find him, Kara. I promise you, we’ll find Matt.”

Michael planned to relieve Kara at 2:00 a.m. so she could sleep for a couple of hours, but she doubted she would. She was looking at the picture Riley had drawn of her and Matt and wondering how she had found herself in this situation. How she had grown so close to someone that the idea of losing him made her near paralyzed with fear.

Part of it was because she was stuck. She couldn’t do anything right now. She couldn’t go out and ask questions, look for clues, knock on doors. Inaction was not in her DNA. She did much better when she had something to do, people to interrogate. Sitting on her ass made her think of what-ifs and would haves.

Plus, she’d received a voice mail from her Realtor. The seller had accepted her offer. She had a house.

But that house meant nothing if Matt wasn’t around. She realized that, while she loved what she did on the Mobile Response Team, she didn’t know if she would continue if someone else was in charge.

Matt was the heart of the MRT.

Riley came out of the bedroom. She sat next to Kara on the couch. Kara put the sketch down.

“I’m so sorry about everything,” Riley said.

“What is your fault? Your mother? Her minions? Their decisions?” She was snippy, but lack of sleep did that to her.

“I knew my mother was capable of cruelty. I didn’t think she would target anyone outside Havenwood. She’s changed. I thought she would never bring a stranger to Havenwood. It is so out of her character. She’s desperate. She knows I’m alive and she wants me back.”

Kara let out a long breath. “She’s not getting away with this. No one can kidnap an FBI agent and walk away.”

“My mother believes she’s invincible. That she can do anything she wants because she has some sort of...mandate from the people of Havenwood. She thinks of herself as a goddess, a benefactor. She is beautiful—I mean, objectively beautiful. She can be cruel, but justifies everything she does and you end up siding with her because it makes sense when she talks. It’s only later that you think, wait, it doesn’t make sense, it’s mean, it’s cruel.”

Riley paused, then she looked directly at Kara. “I will trade myself for Matt.”

“No one will let you do that.”

“It’s the only way to get him back.”

“Matt is resourceful and smart. So is our entire team.”

“She’s sneaky. She’s not going to give him up. She has a plan and it’s probably twisted.” Riley bit her lip.

“What?”

“When I was twelve, after my grandmother died, after Thalia and Robert left, my mother cracked down on people. She started rationing food as punishment. I created a stash of food because no one should be hungry, especially as a punishment. But I was reckless. I told people about it. Not everyone, but when someone got in trouble, I made sure they knew where to go. A few years later my mother found out. She set a trap—she had a pit dug, so the next person who went for food would fall. It was Donovan’s brother. He fell ten feet, but that didn’t kill him. She let him starve to death in the pit. When we heard his cries at night, we didn’t know they were human cries.” Riley was crying now. “No one knew what happened to James. And then...my mother told me. That bad boys and girls will be punished.”

“That’s sadistic,” Kara said.

“It’s important. It’s why Donovan hated me and blamed me for so much that happened at Havenwood. Because I never told my mother that it was me, that I was hiding food. She knew, or I think she did, but I never stood up to her. She had a plan and it worked perfectly. She used me and an innocent boy to show she was in charge. Her plan was sick and twisted, but it worked. And then...”

“What?” Kara pushed.

“The night I took Donovan and Andrew to Thalia, she blamed another resident. She had Brian dragged into the pit. A prison. I never saw him again. It was me, and I remained silent, and Brian is dead.”

“That is on your mother and her people, not on you.”

“It’s on me,” Riley said. “I let Brian die. I could have stood up and said, ‘No, Mother, it’s me!’ But I didn’t. I remained silent. She has a plan for Matt. I don’t know what it is, but if she brought him to Havenwood, she will never let him leave.”

A knock on the door had Kara reaching for her gun. “Stay,” she commanded Riley.

Kara looked through the peephole. She was shocked to see Ryder Kim standing there.

She opened the door and hugged him. “Ryder.” She didn’t want to let him go, and when he hugged her back, she almost cried.

Movement behind him had her reaching for her gun again, then she saw Catherine. She blinked. Nothing could have surprised her more.

Catherine came in with Ryder and closed the door. “All hands on deck,” she said, looking Kara directly in the eye.

For Matt. She was here for Matt, and that made Kara feel better. Catherine would never like her, and Kara mostly didn’t care, but maybe she would finally accept her.

Catherine smiled at Riley. “It’s good to meet you in person, Riley,” she said. “Your art is an amazing gift.”

Riley didn’t say anything.

“This is Dr. Catherine Jones,” Kara said. “And our analyst, Ryder Kim.” She said to the new arrivals, “Sloane will be back in the morning. Jim is going to continue working the evidence out in Colorado Springs.”

“I read his report,” Catherine said. “It’s valuable information.”

Ryder said, “I was only in the way at the lab. Even I didn’t understand half of what the cyber team was doing. I can do more here, helping our team.”

Michael knocked, then entered the room. He had showered and changed and looked refreshed, though he’d slept only four hours.

He was just as surprised to see Catherine and Ryder as Kara. “Kara, you need to get a couple hours downtime if we’re going to find Matt tomorrow.”

She stared at him. “You think I can sleep?”

“It’s after two in the morning. I promise to get you if we learn anything.”

The smart thing was to sleep.

Ryder said, “I’ll hold him to it.”

“Fine.” She turned to Riley. “You’re in good hands.” Then she went into the adjoining room and collapsed onto the bed without taking her clothes off.

She slept and dreamt of Matt.